SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2012 8:03:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Walking & Talking
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 119:41-48
Message of the verses: We will begin the eighth lesson of the 119th
Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary. The
119th Psalm is about the Word of God, and it is broken up into
twenty-two segments of eight verses each and each of the twenty-two segments
begins with a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet and then each of the
eight verses begins with that letter.
The author is unknown however some have speculated that David wrote it.
Vau—Walking and Talking (vv. 41-48): “41 ¶
Vav. May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation
according to Your word; 42 So I will
have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word.
43 ¶ And do not take the word of truth utterly out
of my mouth, For I wait for Your ordinances. 44
So I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever.
45 ¶ And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your
precepts. 46 I will also speak of Your
testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed. 47 I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I
love. 48 And I shall lift up my hands to
Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.”
As Dr.
Wiersbe begins his commentary on this section he states that there are
different voices in this section beginning with “God speaking to us in verse
forty-one. At first glance I must say
that I was a bit surprised by his belief that it is God speaking to us in verse
forty-one, but when you think about it God is the One who speaks to us through
all of His Word, and it is important to meditate upon the Word of God in order
for us to better understand how He is speaking to us. Just take a moment to think about where we
would be without the Word of God, and I suppose that the first conclusion would
be that we would be lost in our sins with no way of coming to the Lord for we
would not know how. God’s Word speaks to
us in love and is an expression of love to us, “The counsel of the LORD stands
forever, the plans of his
heart to all generations (Psalm 33:11)” Since God’s Word shows love to us we should
show love to our fellow believers and also to the unsaved world, as this is
part of God’s plan for our lives. We see
in His Word that it shares promises to us, and promises to us about the future
for His Word is the word of promise, “"Blessed be the LORD, who has given
rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has
failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant
(Psalm 8:56).” All of God’s promises
have their realization in Jesus Christ “For all the promises of God in him are
yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us (2Cor. 1:20).” We also see in Acts 13:26 that God’s Word
about His salvation, “’Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you
who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.’” We know that
Jesus Christ is the only way for us to receive Salvation “Ac 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else;
for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which
we must be saved.’” We also read in
Hebrews 1:1-2 these words about God speaking to us, “1 ¶ God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers
in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His
Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” Now we have to ask the question “Are we
listening to Him?”
The enemy is also speaking (v. 42): “42
So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your
word.” We have already seen in this
Psalm that the psalmist is being oppressed by his enemies who have lied and
slandered his name, and we have also learned that they have threatened is
life. The Word of God is the weapon that
believers use to fight against the wiles of the enemy as seen in Ephesians 6:17
where we are told to take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of
God. We have also mentioned before that
the Lord Jesus Christ used the Word of God to answer to the temptations of Satan,
(Luke and Matthew chapter 4). Having the
Word of God in our hearts will keep us from sin and we can also use it to fight
against our enemies, those who oppose us or ask us why we believe as we do. “but
sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence (1Peter 3:15).”
God’s people speak to the Lord (v.43): “43 ¶
And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I wait
for Your ordinances.” When we look at
the book of Nehemiah we find that on many occasions Nehemiah would send up
short “telegraph” prayers to the Lord and these short prayers were based upon
the Word of God that he knew. We need
the Word of God in our hearts in order to pray these short prayers to the Lord,
for the Spirit of God can prompt us to use the Word of God to fight against our
enemies. 25 ¶ "These things I have
spoken to you while abiding with you. 26
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I
said to you (John 14:25-26).” Dr.
Wiersbe points out that “The writer connected God’s Word with his mouth,
because the word ‘meditate’ in the Hebrew means ‘to mutter.’ The ancient Jews spoke the Word audibly as
they meditated and prayed (Josh. 1:8)”
Our lives speak for the Lord (vv. 44-45): “44 So
I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. 45 And I will walk at liberty, For I seek
Your precepts.” There is a saying that
has been popular for a while that states, “If you talk the talk you must walk
the walk,” and this means that your talk must be backed up by your walk. It is easy to say things, but harder to live
by the things that you say even though the things that you say are true. As believers our walk should be a transformed
life, a life that has been changed from the inside, a life that is pleasing to
the Lord. “13 ¶ "You are the salt of the earth; but if the
salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good
for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city
set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor
does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and
it gives light to all who are in the house. 16
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16)” Dr. Wiersbe points out “That because we know
and obey ‘the word of truth’ (v.43), we are able to enjoy freedom from the bondage
of sin (v. 45), for it is the truth that makes us free (John 8:32; James 1:25;
2:12).”
God’s people speak to others (vv. 46-48): “46 I
will also speak of Your testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed.
47 I shall delight in Your commandments,
Which I love. 48 And I shall lift up my
hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.” One of the things that God has allowed me to
do in my walk with Him is to share the Word of God to those who are in need of
it. There have been times when the Lord
will bring into my life someone who is need of hearing the Word of God
concerning salvation, something that I call a “Divine Appointment,” and then
the Spirit of the Lord will give me the Words to speak to that person. I was walking in a park near our house one
day and was prompted to speak to a girl who looked like she was having
troubles. We talked for an hour as we
walked and I was able to share with her the truth of God’s Word. I have never seen her since that day, but I
continue to pray for her that the word that I spoke to her will be used by the
Spirit of God to bring salvation to her.
As we learned from the verse in 1Peter we have to be ready to tell
others of the hope that is in us and that hope that is in us is seen in the
Word of God.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his
commentary by writing these words, “The basic Christian virtue (1Cor. 13:13)
are seen in those who live by God’s Word: faiths (v.42), hope (v.43), and love
(vv. 41, 47, and 48). Love is mentioned
three times because ‘the greatest of these is love.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There are times when I am amazed by how Dr.
Wiersbe can make the Scriptures come alive and show things from them that I
would not have seen. I think of love
that he speaks about here and desire to do better in this area of my life and
that is why once again I am memorizing the 13th chapter of
1Corinthians.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord to allow me to
have a profitable time at a Bible Study that I am going to go to this morning
for the first time.
Memory verses for the week:
1Cor. 13:1-2
1 ¶ If I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy
gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have
the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
9/5/2012 9:09:23 AM
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